


Push to Communicate, a Confession in Three Parts

by tobiyos



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Attends Shujin Academy, Alternate Universe - No Metaverse (Persona 5), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Everyone Goes to Shujin, Getting Together, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27394486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobiyos/pseuds/tobiyos
Summary: Yusuke has feelings for the student body vice president.Goro has a crush on his best friend.Hifumi wants to hit her two favorite people over the head with a sign that says,Please kiss, this is too much for one woman to deal with.or; the Shujin AU where Goro and Yusuke are hopeless, and Hifumi is always willing to help.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kitagawa Yusuke
Comments: 11
Kudos: 32





	Push to Communicate, a Confession in Three Parts

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I really wanted to write something for Akekita week even though my schedule has been hell lately, but I thought this was a cute idea! I've really been gunning for an excuse to write an "Everybody goes to Shujin" au and now I have an excuse >:) Also, like, we all know Goro and Yusuke would be a couple of oblivious pining idiots. I feel like that's a given
> 
> Akekita week! Day 7: Shujin AU

Yusuke has feelings for the student body vice president.

He knows people have a tendency to write him off as the out of touch with his feelings type, but Yusuke is an _artist_. He’s seen love in drops of paint and broken canvases, and Goro makes him feel like he’s sculpting a masterpiece, writing his name on a canvas that’s only Yusuke’s heart.

He sits in the student council room across from Goro and tries to ignore the itch to sketch Goro’s face into the blank page of the sketchbook he has open in his lap. He cares for Goro, he really does, but the sketchbook he keeps at school is full of almost nothing but the lines of Goro’s face and his hands, the bright red of his eyes and the deep onyx of his gloves. Of his friends he paints Hifumi the most—her expressions during Shogi matches are rather unique, and he loves capturing them in his pieces—but his appreciation of Goro is so casual, so ingrained in his being that he finds it almost impossible not to let his mind wander of the sweep of Goro’s hair where it’s fallen out of its tie, the gentle slope of his mouth.

He is, as he overheard students relay in the hallway once, “in deep.”

Yusuke glances up Goro’s face _again_ , probably for the fifth or sixth time since lunch began, and finds him smiling back, in a private, reserved kind of way. Goro doesn’t smile often, but Yusuke likes the indulgence of it, the lack of secret in the way Goro’s face lights up gently. He’s beautiful, inside and out, and Yusuke knows he’s fighting a losing battle when his hand twitches minutely.

“Lunch is almost over,” Hifumi says pleasantly, and Yusuke manages to snap his gaze to her guiltily for the first time since the hour passed. He’s embarrassed to realize he’d almost forgotten she was even there. Goro is bent over Hifumi’s tablet like it’s a shogi board, a deep grimace on his face. Yusuke can hear the smile in her voice as she adds, “And you are no closer to winning, my lance.”

“Well, a few more moves, I’m sure,” Goro returns, and his voice sounds light, even if his face is murderous. Yusuke adores when he gets like this, when his true self starts to peek through the façade he puts up, even around his friends. It’s wonderfully refreshing.

Hifumi hums, but Yusuke can see Goro’s eye twitch as she moves another piece across the tablet and declares, triumphantly, “Checkmate.”

“Son of a bitch,” Goro mumbles. He sighs, extending a gloved hand over the board. “A challenging game, my queen. Your reign is secured as always.”

Hifumi giggles as she takes his hand, and distantly, Yusuke hears the bell ring.

Class is an exercise in patience he doesn’t have, so Yusuke daydreams. He thinks about Goro, as usual, and Hifumi, and the plans they can make for the weekend, if Goro would be willing to attend a showcase with Yusuke Sunday evening. He’s never been one for spontaneous get togethers, but their friendship has brought out a side of him he didn’t even know existed. He feels lucky.

Well, he feels lucky right up until he goes to grab something out of his desk at the end of the day, and his hand brushes against textured paper he’s _sure_ he didn’t put there. Carefully he tugs the paper past the mouth of the table, suddenly faced with a rather inconspicuous looking white envelope. At least, it’s inconspicuous until he flips it over.

He takes in two very important things at once. First, the bright pink sticky note attached to the top right corner, and then, immediately afterwards, the red heart shaped stickers at the place where the envelope folds shut.

Yusuke may dense but he’s not _stupid_ , and he knows a confession letter when he sees one.

 _No matter_ , he thinks, as he grabs some of his items around the envelope and shoves them into his school bag. He’ll simply read over what the letter has to say, politely turn down the poor person, and go back to pining over his emotionally unavailable best friend. It’s fine. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before.

What gives him pause, though, is the writing on the sticky note in the corner. In bold, girlish print, it says _Kitagawa-kun, please deliver this to Goro Akechi!_

Yusuke blinks at it once, and then twice, and thinks that perhaps he gave himself too much credit.

His eyes track over Goro’s name tacked onto the end like it’s in a foreign language, like perhaps if he looks hard enough, it will stop saying _Goro Akechi, Goro Akechi, Goro Akechi._

Goro doesn’t… get confessions. He’s popular enough, but in the untouchable way that makes girls pine after him from afar, because the chances that he’s even single are so low it’s almost impossible. He’s good at sports and he basically runs the student council, he gets chocolates from almost everyone on valentine’s day—male students included—and Yusuke laughs when Goro complains about them, even if he knows Goro loves the attention. No one actually _asks him out_.

Yusuke never considered telling Goro about his feelings because he didn’t _have_ to. As far as Yusuke knew, his potential for a blooming relationship with Goro was safe, even with the chocolates and handmade lunches. But this letter says, _Kitagawa-kun, please deliver this to Goro Akechi!_ and Yusuke reads _Kitagawa-kun, I’ll be stealing away Goro Akechi!_

He holds the note in two fingers like it might burn him, and takes off into the hallway.

He’s not even sure where he’s going until he nearly runs into Hifumi, who catches his shoulders with a worried look, like Yusuke is a frightened animal.

“What’s the matter?” she asks, face twisting in concern. Yusuke can only imagine what he looks like, eyes wide and breath coming too fast.

He offers her the note with shaking hands, watching as Hifumi assesses it with frustratingly curious eyes. “I-in my desk… I found…”

She flips the note over once, and then twice. “It’s a confession letter,” she says plainly, and tries to hand it back to him.

Can’t she see how _dire_ this is? How this one note will upset the course of his whole relationship with Goro? This confession takes Goro from _untouchable_ to _accessible_ in the eyes of the Shujin student body, and Yusuke can’t possibly hope to fend off attempts at Goro’s affection on a scale that large! He realizes with a start that he was even entertaining the idea of fending off this _one._

“No, no, that isn’t the issue!” he cries. “The note… Oh, Hifumi!”

Hifumi’s eyes soften gently, a motherly sort of concern written all about her face. It makes Yusuke feel small, like a child, and he wishes he could curl up somewhere without having to worry about complicated, annoying, human _feelings_.

“Yusuke,” she says gently. “I’m not about to look at someone’s _private_ confession to you. I’m having trouble seeing an issue here.”

“The confession isn’t for me,” Yusuke whispers. “There was a note attached to it, I’m… I’m supposed to deliver it to Goro.”

Hifumi’s mouth parts in a little _O_ as she glances down at the letter with new eyes. “Oh dear,” she says quietly.

“What do I do?” Yusuke croaks, fisting his hands in his hair. “I don’t… I can’t give it to him.”

“Because of your feelings?” Hifumi asks.

Yusuke sucks in a very sharp breath.

It’s like the world drops away and the floor swallows him whole, because he doesn’t expect Hifumi to _know_. He doesn’t expect _anyone_ to know, not when he’s tucked it away so carefully, when the glances he steals from Goro and the touches the hide together are secret, are _special_.

He grabs Hifumi’s wrist and tugs her down the hallway into another empty classroom, because this is _not_ the world changing conversation they are having in the middle of the hallway. “How did you know about that?” he asks.

Hifumi’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Well, it’s fairly obvious. You’ve felt this way since at least December, right?”

“Decem—” Yusuke blanches. “T-that was months ago! I only… I only realized it around summer vacation last month and—”

Has he been so out of touch with his own feelings that even Hifumi had seen it in _December_? He remembers very clearly the day he figured it out, when Goro had padded about the atelier until it was late enough that he didn’t even have to pretend like he was going home. Yusuke had pulled out a futon and rolled over in the middle of the night to Goro peering up at him, eyes lit by what little moonlight had spilled through the breathtaking. It made him breathless the way artistry did, the slow way Goro’s smile lit up his face so spectacular Goro wanted to keep it near his heart.

“December?” he whispers.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hifumi says gently, and reaches out to rest a hand on Yusuke’s shoulder. “You don’t want to give him the note because you’re scared he’ll take whoever wrote it up on their offer, right? That’s understandable, I’m sure the sender wasn’t aware of your feelings. They chose a poor person to ask of a delivery.”

“But Hifumi,” Yusuke gasps. “I can’t just… _keep it_. Someone entrusted their feelings to me and I…I…”

“What’s worse?” Hifumi asks. “The fear that you might lose Goro to this person, or the fear that you’ll lose him to the way you feel?”

Goro sleeps on Yusuke’s futon and he wakes up slowly, hair messy and eyes half closed. Goro holds his coffee either like he wants to choke it out or marry it, and Yusuke laughs, delighting in the glare Goro sends his way.

Yusuke thinks about Goro and some faceless person, talking on the phone while Goro paces around his apartment, complaining about the first years who skip out on class to his partner instead of Yusuke. Yusuke thinks about going people watching and catching Goro kissing some person in the subway, getting crepes at a park.

He thinks about Goro, and telling him how he feels, and Yusuke wilts.

_What’s worse?_

“I don’t know.” He says quietly.

Hifumi pats his shoulder. “That’s fine. Take some time. Figure it out.”

“Yes, I—” God, he hates how he sounds, so defeated. He always assumed he and Goro had time, that their friendship was something that would stretch on forever, but Yusuke knows that people move on, that Goro will go to university next year and leave Yusuke at Shujin, making a cup of coffee for an empty seat.

He keep Goro out of his reach until suddenly he isn’t there at _all_ , and he’ll fend off more confessions that sound just like _Kitagawa-kun, please deliver this to Goro Akechi!_

_What’s worse? What’s worse?_

“I’m sure he’s still in the club room,” Hifumi whispers. Yusuke’s head jerks up as he looks at her, some of his hair shaking out of his face. She gives him a look full of quiet sympathy. “I’ll keep him there for some time, if you manage to come to a decision.”

Yusuke is lucky. Hifumi brightens a big, tucking a stray hair behind one of her ears. Even if he loses Goro, Hifumi is his star. “You are a saint, my muse.”

Hifumi smiles. “You are hopeless, my knight.”

Goro has a crush on his best friend.

He hates calling it that because it sounds so _juvenile_ and _childish_ but it’s _true._ The way he feels about Yusuke is too superficial to be love, too deep to be meaningless, flighty feelings. It’s a crush, childish in its playfulness and painful in its practice.

And that’s why they call it a _crush_ , isn’t it? When Yusuke sits across from him in the student council room, a sketchbook clutched in his hands but his gaze on Goro’s face, he feels sufficiently, horribly _crushed_. Something in his chest collapses and _squeezes_ as Yusuke pulls his thumb across his bottom lip, smearing graphite across his mouth. It’s so mundane but so wholly _Yusuke_ that Goro considers briefly that perhaps _nothing_ can be put to name about the way he feels for Yusuke.

Yusuke glances down and back up at him again with that same small smile, not even saying anything, the blue of his eyes cresting with the rise of his cheeks. Goro smiles back without even having to think about it, the feeling in his chest winding tighter and tighter.

Goddamn it. He’s got a crush.

He’s also got a class in five minutes, but as far as Goro cares, time can wait for Yusuke and his beauty.

He finishes his shogi match with Hifumi and loses horribly (he now has to treat her to coffee over the weekend, as per their usual arrangement) and goes to class with Yusuke’s name still on his lips.

Goro hates school—hates the schmoozing and the sitting and the polite way he has to talk to teachers, but he at least finds some comfort in his acting skills, honed after years of playing the good boy with everyone around him. He races through classes as fast as possible, finishes his work underneath his desk, and wonders if Yusuke will let him come over after school. It’s been too long since they’ve had some quality time alone together and Goro needs it like he needs air, not to mention that his _father_ gets home from a buisness trip in the evening, and Goro would rather make himself scarce.

He gets out of class early and decides it would be fun to surprise Yusuke by meeting him at his classroom. What’s the worst that could happen?

Apparently, that’s Goro finding Yusuke with a confession letter.

He’s just standing there, staring at it, and Goro is just standing in the doorway staring at _him_. Yusuke looks like a statue, and even from Goro’s position at the door, he can see the bright red heart sticker plastered to the front.

The coil in the chest twists tighter, and he starts off down the hallway.

He bumps into some first year on his way to the student council room, a girl that blushes and stammers when Goro borderline shoulder checks her but he reaches out gently to apologize, his hand light on her shoulder. She says something placating and benign and Goro just nods, feeling very distinctly like he _can’t breathe._

Because here’s the problem. Yusuke fends off plenty of confessions. Goro is used to hearing him complain about it, about how he’s not interested in the empty-headed socialite type that his looks tend to draw in. He wants a partner, not arm candy, and Goro always agreed, secretly delighting in the fact that he would be perhaps the most uncompromising partner, and he knows Yusuke enjoys when he’s difficult.

But Yusuke was holding the note so tenderly, like he was scared one wrong move would make it disappear from between his fingers, and that frightens Goro to his core. Yusuke is blunt and forceful in most things, even matters of the heart, but he was so terrifyingly gentle with a note someone left in his desk, and Goro is terrified to know why.

 _Because this one is different,_ his brain hisses, ever the traitor. _This one finally means something._

He hides in the student council room because even if he’s frightened, he still wants to _see_ Yusuke, to know what he thought about the letter, if Yusuke will even tell him. He needs the normalcy, needs to know if Yusuke will come barging in and drop the letter on the table, leaning back with a huff.

 _What’s this?_ Goro will say, picking up the letter with a disdainful smirk. And Yusuke will scoff, will bat the matter out of the air with a graceful hand. _Another romantic entreatment from the common people. Pay it no mind._ And Goro will smile, and Goro will say, _Did you know I’ve had feelings for you since summer break_?

Goro groans out loud. Scratch that last part.

God, is he not enough? Is that why he can’t bring himself to offer something more than friendship to Yusuke? Has he bared his heart to Yusuke and in turn pushed him away, afraid of the ugly parts of Goro when he is so focused on beauty? What did Goro do _wrong_?

The club door opens with a creak and Goro glances up too quickly, blood rushing in his ears. It’s Yusuke, it’s Yusuke, and _how_ is he supposed to look at him when—

Oh. It’s Hifumi.

“Hifumi!” Goro gasps, standing quickly. Hifumi looks at him like she’s watching a scene replay on a television, but he pays it no mind as he pulls her over to the couch and urges her to sit. “I need your advice,” he says, trying to calm the leg he can’t keep from bouncing.

“It seems that’s a common theme today,” Hifumi sighs. “What can I help you with?”

“It’s about Yusuke,” Goro starts, and then stops, because _God_. This is so embarrassing. He’s got a crush on some boy like a grade schooler and he can’t just get his shit together and tell him because _what?_ Because he’s _insecure?_

“What about him?” Hifumi says patiently. Goro swallows.

“I saw him earlier hiding a… well he was holding… a note.” Hifumi nods, a signal for him to keep going. Goro can feel his face turning red. “A confession note.”

“Oh,” Hifumi says. Goro gnaws on his lip and waits for her to keep going, but her face is almost carefully impassive, save for the little quirk that twitches the corner of her mouth up. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? He deserves a nice partner.”

Goro can’t help the noise he makes, low and panicked at the idea of Yusuke pursuing… well _anyone._ “That’s true. Yes, I—that’s true.”

“What’s wrong?” Hifumi asks, and Goro feels grateful for the grounding hand she rests on his knee.

“I think I’ve fallen for him,” he admits. It’s difficult to say out loud, to allow himself to be this emotionally vulnerable when he feels so damn _raw_ but it’s true, isn’t it? He feels for Yusuke more than he’s ever felt for anyone, like it’s suffocating him, like it’s _crushing_ him.

He almost jumps when Hifumi says, as gently as possible, “Yes, I would suspect as much.”

Goro huffs a sound that he thinks may have been a laugh. Of course Hifumi caught on. She’s probably subjected to Goro’s embarrassing romantic stuttering more than even Yusuke is. “I feel selfish but I… I don’t want him to accept it. The confession.”

Hifumi moves her hand from Goro’s knee to pat gently at his head. It should feel condescending but it’s hard to see anything other than affection in Hifumi’s slim eyes. “Well, that’s only natural. You want the person you care for to like you back, right?”

“What if he doesn’t?” Goro says suddenly, because he can’t keep the words in anymore. “You two see the only sides of me I hide, and he’s heard me swear at the vending machines and trip over my own feet and snarl at the chocolates I get on Valentine’s day. Everyone wants me to be so perfect but you’ve both seen me at my worst and what if he doesn’t _want_ me—” He’s spiraling, he’s dying, he’s going to be _crushed._ Yusuke is going to find someone better than him and he’s going to have to be okay with it, and one day he’ll go to Yusuke’s wedding and he’ll probably be his best man, and this afternoon will be the catalyst that tips the scales—

“Goro,” Hifumi says, shutting his brain off in one firm word. “Since when has Yusuke cared if you’re perfect?”

Since when has… Yusuke…

When did Goro become an idiot? When did he forget the soft way Yusuke looks at him when they’re alone and quiet, the way he curls close to Goro when they watch movies at his house? Yusuke has never asked anything of him, never commented on his anger, never tried to change him in anyway. When did Goro become an _idiot_? When did he become a _coward_?

“I’m going to tell him,” he whispers.

Hifumi smiles. “You’re going to tell him.”

“ _Yes_ ,” Goro says, standing. Who cares what Yusuke wants or prefers? He wants his best friend to know that he cares about him more than anything, that Yusuke could never break his heart because he _is_ his heart. Goro Akechi is no coward, and Yusuke can get all of the confessions he wants, but Goro is never going to let him go.

“I’m going to tell him how I feel,” he says confidently, “And no one, not even some blushing schoolgirl, will steal him away from me.”

“You have to take your opponent’s knight,” Hifumi says brightly, her hands coming together at her chest.

Goro feels a smile so wide it hurts light up his face. “You have to take your opponent’s knight,” he says triumphantly.

Someone knocks at the club door, and Goro feels good. _He feels good_.

He watches Hifumi brush her skirt out as she stands, and goes to open the door to Yusuke, standing and looking like he’s going into a battle, his face set and determined. And, Goro notices, the confession letter held between his fingers.

“I’m going home for the day,” she says to the both of them, with an extra added, “Call me if you need me!” thrown over her shoulder as the door shuts loudly. Yusuke nods as Hifumi passes, and Goro meets his eye across the room.

“Hi,” Goro says.

“Hello,” Yusuke responds. He can see the confession, that dirty little note still clenched in Yusuke’s fingers, but the seal is unbroken, like he hadn’t even thought to look at it.

“I—” they both start, and then snap their mouths closed. Goro feels a small hysterical smile wind onto his face, and Yusuke mirrors it, until they’re both laughing quietly, separated by the expanse of the club room.

Yusuke clears his throat. “You first,” he says, dignified as ever, the pretty blue of his eyes catching the light. Goro thinks if he ever had to fall in love with anyone, he’s eternally grateful that it’s Yusuke, because god… it’s a miracle someone like him is even in his life. Which is why, of course, all of Goro’s words dry up in his throat at the way Yusuke looks at him, soft and reserved and almost _shy._

“Y-you first,” he says instead, cringing at his stutter.

Yusuke’s eyes widen but he nods, slowly, tentatively. “Yes, of course.” He shuffles a bit closer, just a few steps that bring them almost nose to nose, and Goro looks down at where Yusuke’s hands are shaking as he presents the love letter like a bird with a broken wing. “This is a confession letter,” he says. And Yusuke… is handing it to him…?

“It’s not from me,” Yusuke amends, and Goro feels the fleeting hope that had sprung up in his heart _die_ in his chest like someone has physically destroyed it. “I… was asked to give it to you. Because we are close friends.”

 _Yes_ , Goro thinks, as he takes the note from Yusuke’s fingers. His heart feels like its collapsing in on itself, like a black hole. _We are close friends. That’s it. That’s all._

“However,” Yusuke says, and Goro startles as a hand covers his own as he holds the notes. His eyes dart up to Yusuke’s, hardened with determination. “I do not want you to look at it.”

Goro frowns. “But, didn’t you just say—”

“I have feelings for you,” Yusuke rushes out, and Goro feels like he’s misheard, like the hope that died so easily in him is having trouble coming back at the drop of a hat. He meets Goro’s eyes and steps impossibly closer, and Goro finds suddenly that it’s very difficult to speak or breathe or think because Yusuke is very close and his eyes are _very_ pretty—

“I have feelings for you, and because of this, I do not want you to open that letter.”

Goro takes a deep, rattling breath. He thought they called it a crush because it hurt, but the look in Yusuke’s eyes makes his heart melt and his knees go weak and he feels like some annoying heroine in an airbrush cover paperback and he still can’t fucking _speak._

“I—” Goro starts, a second before Yusuke kisses him.

It’s a light, fleeting thing, just the gentle press of Yusuke’s mouth on his, but it makes Goro’s eyes fly open, even as he registers that it barely lasted for a fraction of a second, the feeling gone before Goro even knew what was happening.

Yusuke isn’t even turning red, or sputtering, he’s just leveling Goro with that same cool look, his face relaxed as if he doesn’t want to expect more, like he’s said his peace, and that’s all he needs to be satisfied. And well. Goro can’t have _that_ at all.

When he tugs Yusuke forward by the collar, he gets a small flash of validation at the way Yusuke’s eyes widen, his gasp ghosting across Goro’s lips. And Goro can’t even bring himself to feel bad when he starts laughing, even as Yusuke kisses back, his arms going around Goro’s neck and tugging him closer like _Goro_ would be the one to slip away. When he pulls away, Yusuke chasses him, and when Goro kisses him again, its _good_. A little hurried, because it feels like Goro is letting go of something that’s been simmering beneath his skin for ages, and strangely messy because he doesn’t think either of them has ever done this before, but it’s _so, so_ good, and Goro thinks _Fuck, having a crush. This feels like flying_.

“Sorry,” Yusuke gasps, when they have to part to catch air. At some point Yusuke’s hands have tangled in his hair, pulling some of his short ponytail out and around his neck. Goro thinks it’s fair, considering he’s holding Yusuke so tightly about the waist he’s worried there’s be bruises in the shape of his hands later on.

When he glances up, Yusuke’s cheeks are _finally_ flushed attractive deep red and Goro wants to hold onto him for the rest of his life. “I feel like we’re doing this all wrong,” Yusuke says lightly, and Goro feels the hand in his hair tug the tie of his ponytail free, his hair falling over his shoulders.

“I think it’s perfect,” Goro insists, and meets Yusuke in the middle when he leans in to kiss him again.

Hifumi wants to hit her two favorite people over the head with a sign that says, _Please kiss, this is too much for one woman to deal with._

She _knows_ Goro and Yusuke like each other—everyone knows Goro and Yusuke like each other, aside from Goro and Yusuke—and she sits in the student council room and watches them throw increasingly flirtatious grins at each other over the course of their lunch period. She’s lucky she doesn’t feel left out, perfectly at home bent over the tablet that’s supposed to be reserved for club buisness and planning now relegated to her kingdom and Goro’s falling empire. However, if she has to hear them stutter their way into making one of their borderline dates painfully platonic before it even starts, she’s transferring schools.

She beats Goro easily (she’s now considering what kind of coffee she’ll make him buy) and goes to class with a nervous kind of energy still about her, anxious for something unnamed and sits through classes long enough that it feels like her brain is mush.

Before she can get to the student council room at the end of the day, she’s intercepted by Yusuke, holding a small white envelope, with a very clear heart sticker over the seal. Her heart races for a moment, before she meets his slightly panicked gaze, and feels her best friend instincts take over. “What’s the matter?”

“I-in my desk… I found…” he thrusts the envelope out and Hifumi picks it from his long fingers, flipping the note over once, and then twice.

“It’s a confession letter,” she says plainly, and tries to hand it back to him.

“No, no, that isn’t the issue!” Yusuke cries. He draws his hands up to his chest and plucks at the tips of his nails in the way he does when he is really, _truly_ nervous. “The note… Oh, Hifumi!”

Hifumi feels very fond of her friend and very annoyed at the same time. “Yusuke,” she says gently. “I’m not about to look at someone’s _private_ confession to you. I’m having trouble seeing an issue here.”

“The confession isn’t for me,” Yusuke whispers, conspiratorially. “There was a note attached to it, I’m…” he glances off to the side. “I’m supposed to deliver it to Goro.”

Oh. Well, that’s little a surprise, considering how popular Goro is. This is the first time it’s been _this_ bold, though, and the first time Yusuke has been made a messenger. But Hifumi is a good friend, and so she lets her eyes widen, and leans forward. “Oh dear,” she says.

“What do I do?” Yusuke croaks, his hands going dramatically to fist in his hair. “I don’t… I can’t give it to him.”

“Because of your feelings?” Hifumi asks.

Yusuke eyes widen, and suddenly, Hifumi is being grabbed by the wrist, and pulled down the hallway into an empty classroom. Yusuke shuts the door behind him with an overdramatic slam, and Hifumi flinches. “How did you know about that?” he asks.

Hifumi’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Well, it’s fairly obvious. You’ve felt this way since at least December, right?”

“Decem—” Yusuke blanches. “T-that was months ago! I only—I mean… I only realized it around summer vacation last month and—” He takes a very deep breath. “December?” he whispers.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hifumi says gently, and reaches out to rest a hand on Yusuke’s shoulder. “You don’t want to give him the note because you’re scared he’ll take whoever wrote it up on their offer, right? That’s understandable, I’m sure whoever wrote it wasn’t aware of your feelings. They chose a poor person to ask of a delivery.”

“But Hifumi,” Yusuke gasps. “I can’t just… _keep it_. Someone entrusted their feelings to me and I…I…”

“What’s worse?” Hifumi asks. “The fear that you might lose Goro to this person, or the fear that you’ll lose him to the way you feel?”

Yusuke’s face drops. “I don’t know.” He says quietly.

“That’s fine,” Hifumi says, with a pat to his shoulder. “Take some time. Figure it out.”

“Yes, I—” Oh, he sounds so small. Hifumi wishes she could help him, could tell Goro how he feels on his own but that just wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be _proper_.

“I’m sure he’s still in the club room,” she whispers. Yusuke looks up with big, gleaming eyes. “I’ll keep him there for some time, if you manage to come to a decision.”

Yusuke’s eyes soften almost imperceptibly, as he raises a hand to squeeze Hifumi’s on his shoulder. “You are a saint, my muse.”

“You are hopeless, my knight.”

And with that, she’s off to the club room to buy Yusuke some time.

Goro is sitting on the couch in the club room, his hands locked behind his neck and his head between his knees when Hifumi enters. She feels her eye twitch imperceptibly.

“Hifumi!” Goro gasps, when the door shuts loudly. He’s on his feet in a second, guiding Hifumi to sit on the couch with an urgent hand. “I need your advice.”

“It seems that’s a common theme today,” Hifumi sighs. “What can I help you with?”

“It’s about Yusuke,” Goro starts, and Hifumi looks at where he’s picking at the tips of his gloves, like the three of them pass their nervous habits around. It’s a little cute, truth be told.

“What about him?” she says patiently. Goro swallows.

“I saw him earlier hiding a… well he was holding… a note.” Hifumi nods, a signal for him to keep going. Goro tugs at his glove again. “A confession note.”

“Oh,” Hifumi says, for what feels like the hundredth time today. She won’t sell Yusuke out, not when she’s supposed to keep Goro talking, so she says, “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? He deserves a nice partner.”

Goro makes a sound low in his throat, and turns his eyes to the floor. “That’s true. Yes, I—that’s true.”

“What’s wrong?” Hifumi asks, and puts a hand on Goro’s knee.

“I think I’ve fallen for him,” Goro says quietly. Hifumi wonders how Goro is so smart and yet so wildly dense.

“Yes, I would suspect as much,” she returns, as gently as possible. Goro lets out a shaky breath.

“I feel selfish but I… I don’t want him to accept it. I don’t like that he was hiding it from me.”

Hifumi moves her hand from Goro’s knee to pat gently at his head. “Well, that’s only natural. You want the person you like to like you back?”

“What if he doesn’t?” Goro says suddenly, turning to face her on the couch. “You two see the only sides of me I hide, and he’s heard me swear at the vending machines and trip over my own feet and snarl at the chocolates I get on Valentines day. Everyone wants me to be so perfect but you’ve both seen me at my worst and what if he doesn’t _want_ me—”

“Goro,” Hifumi says, stopping him effectively in his traps. “Since when has Yusuke delighted in the perfect?”

Goro’s face is red, and he blinks, twice, like he hasn’t heard Hifumi at all. And then he blinks again, slowly, and whispers, “I’m going to tell him.”

“You are?”

“Yes,” Goro says standing. He looks like himself again, regal and deserving of his place as the prince of Shujin. “Yes, I’m going to tell him how I feel and no one, not even some blushing school girl, will steal him away from me.”

“You have to take your opponent’s knight,” Hifumi says brightly.

Goro turns to her with an edge to his smile, and a fire in his eyes. “You have to take your opponent’s knight,” he says triumphantly.

Almost like it’s on a schedule, a knock comes to the club room door. Hifumi brushes her skirt out as she stands, and is unsurprised to see Yusuke standing in the doorway, the confession letter gripped in his fingers. She raises an eyebrow and Yusuke nods, face completely set.

“I’m going home for the day,” she says to the both of them, with an extra added, “Call me if you need me!” thrown over her shoulder as she shuts the clubroom door.

They’ll be fine. She knows her friends, and what it takes to get two thick headed idiots together for good.

After all, she wouldn’t have planted that confession there if she didn’t think they could work it out.

 _Good job, Hifumi_ , she thinks, as she bounds down the stairs of the Shujin entrance. Sometimes communication just needs a little push.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeehaw! I had fun with this even though I wanted it to be... idk funnier? Man, writing about Goro n Yusuke just makes me introspective. I feel like I maybe could've done this better but I like it well enough! Mostly I'm just happy its done :> I really love Goro and Yusuke I hope I can do something more with them when I'm not swamped. (Also Hifumi... love of my life...)
> 
> Come say hi on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/tobi_yos)!


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